a new journal

Today I want to tell you about and show a new patchwork piecing project this month. It is a cover for a coptic bound journal. I use them to write in and sketch ideas for new quilting projects. Last year I made a pair of patchwork improvisation blocks using some of the scraps from my big Orange Explains It quilt scraps. Compared to the regular book cloth covered coptic bound journal this was clearly fun and interesting to do but extra time intensive. That is because to make a cover with fabric one has to add a paper backing to the cloth patchwork before gluing to the book cover boards. Double the glue work but doubly unique in the final book covers.

Orange Explains It scrappy Coptic bound book 

After I completed this first book I gave it to Keith for Christmas and figured I would make myself another one in the winter. It never happened until now but recently I finished up a big quilt top using two tones of orange and had scraps that were long strips and by adding them together and cutting them I got a new type of scrappy quilt block for my next book. See images below of the new cover...

Inside this new journal I added some wrapping paper we bought last year at that great paper source store in Georgetown with various feathers printed for my end pages. I like to use a heavy Strathmore paper for my fly pages in this case darker orange. I also had orange beeswax coated linen binder's thread to finish up the orange theme. While sewing I decided not to add glass beads to the spine but to use a soft paper and insert a little yellow-green or chartreuse over the two center folios for some colorful interest on the spine. 

In the back ground there you can see the big copy press I have on my studio desk. That is how I get the paper and glued fabric to stay pressed flat before and after I apply it to the book cover boards. It's a very heavy tool but a great one to have. 

A friend on Instagram asked about the needle I use. It is a bend binder's needle in this case one that I bent myself a trick I learned at my first class in Coptic book making with Daniel Essig years ago at Pyramid Atlantic Art Center when it used to be in Riverdale, MD. We plan to have a fabric block printing workshop for quilters at the current Pyramid Atlantic home in Silver Spring, MD next January 2016 for DC Modern Quilt Guild members. So here are a few images of my process as I built the book. 

detail of the first 6 signatures sewn in place with orange thread and chartreuse paper over the spines of two signatures. 

look closely to see the bent binders needle is tucked under the thread which is all that holds the coptic journal together. 

book assembly is one signature at a time added using a single tread and needle.

Finished Vincent!

I am so happy to say that I finished reading a big book today.  Vincent Van Gogh The Life. It was s an journey to experience all 850 pages, plus notes and appendix and some online stuff too. This book was a scholarly work with dozens of them working to make it happen and has really filled in all sorts of details about him and his life that we didn't know from his childhood to the miserable end. It was difficult at times because it held a mirror on to my own artistic and emotional disappointments and failures. So some evenings it was hard to keep reading because it was making me feel depressed but I was driven to find out what happened to him. All the way through each new phase was interesting because the story teller keeps pulling one along from one chapter to the next. In this the complete story the only thing missing was a cataloge raisonné of all his art works to illustrate his biography. They do have a good number of illustrations in black and white as well as full color. Now that the work is owned by so many different museums and collectors his work it's impossible due to copyrights but it would enhance the reading to see everything together with the stories. The one thing that is online and was used at the late stages of the writing is a complete collection and new translations of his & brother Theo letters which does have many images in the notes with the texts right there to click and reveal. I hope that is the future of writing to be able to do comprehensive illustration and illumination of all histories.

I watched Lust For Life  the Academy award winning movie from 1955 with Kirk Douglas and Anthony Quinn based on a novel written by Irving Stone in the 1934. First time I saw it was when I was a kid in the 1960's on black and white TV. Back then I wished we had a color set then to see the full color of these exciting scenes and paintings. Recently I saw it again on TCM in full color and was a little disappointed in the story and the acting but the color and costumes and scenes were great. The second viewing was while I was waiting to get my hands on the book that was published late in 2011 after I saw the Authors of the new book on 60 Minutes describing their new theory about his death. It is really moving the whole story is really quite amazing. My view of Paul Gauguin is greatly diminished by the stories of his egotism and antics to get Theo to support him and sell his paintings while using Vincent as a pawn and hurting him emotionally a great deal. But to be fair to Gauguin, Vincent was hoping to use him to further his career too, it just happens Gauguin was the stronger more powerful and successful of the two at that time.

Paul Gauguin's portrait of Vincent in the Arles Yellow House where he mocked the size of his manhood with that little thumb in the palette and discredited his love of "copying" nature...

In the end, it was all a good read and cleared up some mysteries in my mind about Vincent Vangogh, his skills, mental problems and challenges. He was a pitiful tormented man living in a time that didn't know what to do about his eccentric behavior  except reject and mock him. Eventually he got treatment for his underlying disorder psychomotor epilepsy and syphilis which are both treatable today. Vincent remains the ultimate outsider, he is a hero in so many ways but his over judgmental times family and cultures made him so doubtful of his visions and accomplishments. This so much undermined his self image in the last months of his life he couldn't really believe the critics finally found him to be a genius and a leader of the post impressionist movement. He sold one painting right near the end and got a number of very influential  reviews and articles on his work published. He was on the verge of getting the financial rewards he hoped for his entire life when the accident with the gun ended it all. One thing I would like to know more about is the story from there to here. Who besides his brother picked up the torch and brought him to the top of the art collector's market? Theo only lived a six months beyond Vincent and died raving mad in an asylum crazy with syphilis but he was determined to see Vincent remembered and his work survive. His nephew named for his uncle Vincent Van Gogh helped but I wish the book told us more about how these paintings became so influential in the modern art era. 

self portrait in the NGA collection

 my morning sketch of sunflowers and calla lily 

my sketch of sunflowers in ceramic vase 

I was inspired by Vincent's fearless manic work ethic that he kept trying over and over to get the images he wanted in spite of his poor skills and he defended his mission to keep practicing until he reached his goals. He was very stubborn, he created a huge volume of work in spite of all sorts of hardships. His depressions often ended in manic recoveries where he worked so fast other painters mocked him for the aggressive way he used the brush to put paint on the canvas. I do not have as many problems as Vincent but health and income are always worries but he is a beacon of inspiration to get busy no matter what; proving showing up at the blank page is always a good idea often rewarded with nothing more than knowing you accomplished something of your own today.

getting ready

large and small Coptic bound books ready to fill

This past month I have been working on making a bundle of new Coptic bound blank books to offer at the Art in the Burg show Saturday April 28th in Middleburg, Virginia. It is always exciting to select the various materials that go into the covers and sewing of a new Coptic binding. There are fine cover cloths and handmade marble papers and a color bee's waxed linen thread that gets glass beads strung on them as they loop in and out of the signatures of each book spine. First step is to select the cover paper and cloth and prepare the boards they are glued over. Then cutting them and gluing them down and put in my heavy steel screw press from the 19th century to hold them with blotter paper very flat while that glue dries over 24 hours.

two sets of new book covers after pulling them out of the screw press 

Cover on the left a cherry blossom printed japan paper and on the right are woodblock printed red from Florence, Italy (wrapped in waxed paper) 

Then comes adding the folded, hole punched signatures of fine cotton writing paper is the next step. It begins with the paper signatures then a length of linen thread and a cup of glass beads at the ready I start and sew it all into a book small takes an hour larger takes a few hours to get them all laced up and in the stack of completed Coptic bound books.

brown cloth, aqua end pages and green linen thread and glass beads

all sewn together the finished book stands n the sun ready to use. 

4 new pocket sized books completed in blue, gold, brown, and purple

and recently added ORANGE! 

In addition to books I am working on adding scans of my new watercolor sketches to my portfolio web site which now has a new page devoted to my practice of a daily sketch. That is over at this web site: Frederick Nunley  Prints and originals will also be on display and available at the Art in the Burg show. Earlier this week Keith and I signed up to show at the 2012 ARTOMATIC in Crystal City, Virginia with 1200 of our dear artist friends and neighbors! This will be our 3rd Artomatic done together since 2000. He will be making a large ikebana installation and I will be showing my sketch prints the big opening May 18th is in a huge office building right next to the Crystal City metro station exit. It runs Wednesdays through Sundays all day and late into the night for after work visitors. Hope you can plan to stop by this spectacular exposition of all kinds of art works by local artists. It began in Washington DC as a non-judgmental art collective installation and rules as the biggest and most diverse exhibition opportunity.

4-14-2012 the twin pink parrot tulips that came from our garden were my sketch subject...

Art in the Burg

I am going to be showing in Middleburg the end of April for a one day show in a big parish hall with some of my art friends. More information about the show here: http://www.middleburgarts.org/ 
We used to do an October show in Arlington, VA but have since moved on to Middleburg with the organizer Peter Wood also known as Rusty Metal for his rusted metal sculptures. We have a great time showing and talking and even selling some of our art but it takes months to get the goodies ready to show. I am currently working on daily sketches and book binding to have a nice stack of both to show by April 28th.

Yesterday I got two books finished one "jeans pocket sized" and one half sheet size. 8.5" x 5.5" These take several days to complete but the final step is to sew them together adding beads to the spine. Monday last I went to the Beadazzeled store on Dupont circle and found nice clear blue glass and shinny metallic black glass beads to use on these two designs with the end pages of Japanese paper we bought Valentines day.

end page of turquoise cherry blossoms in the blue books 

Japanese village end pages in golden book

Each day I try to accomplish something towards filling my booth with new art and crafts. I love sketching daily and have done it for over a year now. As my subject I usually go for the flowers around the house this time of year. When the weather is a little better I step outside in the mornings to do a sketch right in the garden. Recently I began using loose leaf paper to do some sketches to sell originals along side prints of smaller sketches in my home made sketch books that I don't want to tear up for framing. I guess if anyone wants to buy an entire sketch book full, I would sell them that way, about 36 sketches in each book. I planned to make inexpensive digital prints which I will edition, sign and number to sell for this show of the smaller sketches from the last couple years. These will allow me to get a big book full of my sketch prints on the table to show and discuss that will be easy to bring home.

sketch of narcissus ikebana arrangement in the studio

sketch of red flowers 

red ranunculus
 and tulips in crystal vase

narcissus poeticus in milk bottle 

Spring came so suddenly here in DC this year. The lovely Cherry blossoms were accompanied by late blooming tulips and all the narcissus are blooming out and nearly gone the in the same week.  The tree pollen is massive and I am grateful for a day of rain today to tamp down all that dust in the air that is causing me hard times with breathing.

ikebana narcissus 

 I continue to work on the English paper piecing at night while listening to TV and have made some good progress. I now have 29 blocks done and 4 more under construction. Time to get some half sized blocks to fill in the gaps at top and bottom of the quilt design for a straight edge finish. It's nearly big enough that I can think about stopping but I am not sure if I want to make a small quilt or a big quilt in this technique so I just keep going.

rose pink block #28

copper center block #29

oranges and blues

This week I have been working on my rose star quilt blocks but doing the part that isn't ready to show yet which is selecting fabrics cutting them and basting & wrapping them on the paper pieces to get them ready to hand sew together. I got new fabrics last week and finally a nice selection of oranges to make a real red orange rose-star! That is going to be fun to assemble in the coming week. I was delighted when Keith came home on Tuesday from shopping for his floral creations with a bouquet of real orange parrot tulips from the Whole Food's market. Wow they are so spectacular they really lifted my mood every day since they arrived.  I got right to work sketching them Wednesday morning before my trip to the clinic for my quarterly check up. Good news everything is fine says my groovy guitar playing lesbian doctor and so I was again lifted and with the sun shine and warm weather, I went out on 14th Street and decided to take a look in our favorite second hand store across the street. Miss Pixie's is mostly cool furniture but they have lots of little ceramics and glass things as well as art on the walls. I saw this blue vase first thing in the door. It felt so good when I picked it up and handled the textured surface. The shape is pleasing and unusual and the decoration is a line ornamentation that is much like I used to draw on my journal pages. It totally appealed to me and I thought to myself, "do I have money for this today?" I walked around and continued to look to see what else might catch my eye and eventually pulled out my clip of money and found about $30 in my pocket so I could afford an $8 vase if it still was the best thing in the shop. There was a hand sewn Dresden plate quilt in the back for $85 dollars much like the one at home Mom has from her grandmother. It was in pretty good shape on the front but the back had some strange brown stains on it that were a bit hard like varnish or something that doesn't belong on fine quilts. I decided I wasn't in the market for a quilt like that and then thought about cedar chests which they always have a few of in this shop. I would love to have one to put my fine pieces of quilting and blankets in for storage. I do not have money for one now and there isn't any room for one unless I give up some other furniture in our little apartment so that goes on the someday wish list for now. In the end, I decided the little blue vase would bring me much joy for this week. I celebrated my good news and the good weather with the purchase. Got it home and soon it became part of the daily ikebana project Keith is doing so I know it was a good thing to bring home. Meanwhile the responses to my orange tulips were strong and enthusiastic. Can't beat a good tulip for a winter day's mood lift.  

The other fun thing that I began this week, besides cutting out more rose star blocks, was reading the new Vincent Van Gogh biography. Vincent Van Gogh The Life It is the first ever complete story of his life that fills over 800 pages in a big volume that has one of his self portraits on the cover. I wasn't sure it was going to be a good read but on the first night I began I was hooked wow these guys know how to tell a story. I know Vincent is one of the worlds most favorite artists. I like that he was so productive and drew and wrote tons of letters and sent illustrations he drew of his paintings in the letters. I wonder how excited he would be to live in today's world with the Internet and the quick and easy sharing we get to do with photos and blogs and emails? His story is one I am delighted to get to know better I can relate so well to his love of flowers and landscapes and portraits that look a little funky cause I think mine do too. I just wish I had a orange beard and blue/green eyes like he did otherwise I don't have much envy for Vincent's life of misery he was a real outsider if ever there was one. 

August begins

It's already the 8th and I feel like it just started. This is such a hot summer it kind of makes me feel like winter when it's too severe to enjoy the weather but we manage to get out in spite of the high heat. I have been going out mornings to draw. Keith is doing his flower arrangements and I my sketches and other routines. I had an exciting experience this past week. Since I post my photos of my work on flickr.com the folks from around the world can look and comment or just mark a photo as a favorite with a red star. One person who's flickr.com profile moniker is "Life Under Quilts" starred on of my photos of a quilt block so I went to see what she does and was delighted by her work. She had a block I really liked and thought I remembered my friend Steven Stichter making while he was at Penland School of Crafts on a quilting intensive for two months years ago. It was one that caught my attention then and again on life under quilts many quilt photos. I took her name for it "ribbon block" and searched on Google to see if I could find out more about it or a pattern. Nothing like that block showed up. So I was telling Keith about it and he suggested I write and ask her how she did it directly which led to a very exciting response the next day.
She had done those blocks as a tutorial and had photos stored away that she had not used but since I asked she would post the whole thing on her blog the following day. See the post here: Life Under Quilts Blog Sure enough, she did and I was in business.
Cut, pin, sew, press, rotate...

cut, pin, sew, press, rotate...

cut, pin, sew, press, rotate... and in a couple hours I had one of my own. I finished it up and I felt so good. I have it on my big embroidery hoop right now doing simple hand stitch quilting on the first pieced pater block I ever made. It's kind of larger than I expected but I used wide ribbons since she didn't say what size to use.  I think I doubled the width of what she used. Next time I will try it thinner and maybe at angles instead of squared up. I like the sort of spiral thing that happens and the depth that can be seen in the space it creates. This is the block before it is quilted.

In the mean time one of the artists I met on the last International Sketch Crawl at Union Station asked me to make her a vellum and print paper sketch book in my Coptic stitch style. I went up to Pyramid Atlantic to cut the paper and some boards on Friday. Gretchen was not there but I saw that Jose the director was back from his summer vacation and Jake Muirhead the intaglio print studio director was getting prints cut before he takes off on his annual summer family vacation. He looked at my July garden sketch book and suggested that they would be nice intaglio prints and I told him I was thinking about that but the color was driving me this summer. Maybe you could hand color them he says, even though he doesn't like hand colored prints personally. Then right after he left there was an intern sitting with a stack of intaglio color prints done with line etching and aquatints. They were yellow and red ink and beautiful dahlias. She explained how they were done ant that they were part of the "print exchange" that one of the other leaders at Pyramid Atlantic was running. I have missed out on that but I have been busy in the garden and with my sketch crawl buddies and my own quilting extravaganza at home.
The book for artist Angela Newman is going to be very difficult to sew. These vellums are hard to handle because they slip and slide when you stack them. I got the covers ready and the paper/vellum. Now I just need a cool day's weather on the back porch to take up the challenge of wrestling them into the binding. I love her drawing style and she has a nice blog she posts on regularly her work while she is in DC before she takes off to Italy later this year to serve in the US Air Force! This is a link to her post from Union Station where she used Vellum as an overlay to make a drawing with extra depth. Very impressive take a look?
I will not make boring art

Angela's book covers ready to assemble and one section of the vellum folded

the finished covers ready to go in the press to dry

Soon Keith and I will be spending some time at the beautiful Chesapeake Bay in a little cottage. We are both trying to figure out how to take our work on the road, keep up our diet--exercise routines and manage doctor appointments while watering our garden from  out of town. Anyone want to babysit some bonsai and potted plants?

new books

One of the new letter press printed gray labels in a lavender-blue book.

the lavender-blue book with matching beads on the spine.

new rusty red book with multi colored beading on the spine.

Here is one of my labels for this years books. I printed it at Pyramid Atlantic and cut and sewed it into the first signature of each new book after setting cold metal type and inking it up and printing about 40 of them on the Vandercook proofing press.

These are Light in October show flyers and two of my 8.5 by 5 inch books.

This week I cut two large pieces of davey board into numerous smaller book covers using the massive board shearer which is part of Linda Rollins binding studio at Pyramid Atlantic. The blade is amazing to pull down and cut through thick boards smooth as cutting butter. Many thanks to Linda and all the folks at Pyramid Atlantic Arts.